Appeal No. 1999-2284
Application 08/798,443
meaning except where a different meaning is clearly set forth
in the specification or where the accustomed meaning would
deprive the claim of clarity." Northern Telecom Ltd. v.
Samsung Elecs. Co., 215 F.3d 1281, 1287, 55 USPQ2d 1065, 1069
(Fed. Cir. 2000). In general, the plain language of the claim
controls. Id. at 1075. The second step in an anticipation
analysis involves a comparison of the construed claim[s] to
the prior art. Helifix 208 F.3d at 1346, 54 USPQ2d at 1303.
Construing claim 1, we first note that claim 1 plainly
requires a device enclosure having a bottom base and a cover.
Comparing this to the prior art, we find that Vettel teaches
an enclosure having a cast body and cover in column 2, lines
46-49:
the sealed enclosure formed by the cast body 12,
cover 20 and sealing tape 11 serves to enclose and
seal the disk and actuator assemblies to form a
head-disk assembly (HDA).
Next, claim 1 recites a requirement for at least one
storage disk. We find that Figure 2 of Vettel illustrates
storage disks. Further support for the limitation of storage
disks is found in Vettel at column 3, lines 10-13:
8
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